In 2014 Hungary introduced the advertisement tax as a direct business tax that must be paid by media content and service providers and publishers of advertisements. The tax base was the net sales revenue originating from the taxable activities in the tax year, i.e. the turnover and not the profit, and a progressive tax rate was established originally with six tax rates between 0% and 40%. The Advertisement Tax Act also provided that taxable persons whose pre-tax profits for the 2013 financial year were zero or negative, could deduct from their 2014 taxable amount 50% of the losses carried forward from the earlier financial years (“mechanism for partial deductibility of losses carried forward”).

The Budapest office of Baker McKenzie has advised the MET Group on its divestment from Tigaz Zrt via the sale of 50% of the shares in MS Energy Holding AG, representing a 49.57% stake in Tigaz, to Opus Global Nyrt. Kertesz & Partners reportedly advised the buyer.

RTPR and Havel & Partners have advised Hungarian facility manager B+N Referencia Zrt. on its acquisition of the ISS Group’s subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary. Havel & Partners acted as Czech counsel to the buyer.

Szabolcs Szendro, a member of CMS Budapest's Competition team, has been promoted to Partner at the firm, effective as of May 1, 2021.

Dentons has advised a syndicate of Raiffeisen Bank, UniCredit Bank, ING Bank, CIB Bank, Erste Bank, K&H Bank, and MKB Bank, and four affiliated leasing companies, on the restructuring of the Waberer’s Group’s debts. Lakatos, Koves & Partners advised the banks on the deal.

Noerr has advised facility services provider ISS on the divestment of its main subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary to Hungarian facility management company B+N Referencia Zrt. Havel & Partners advised B+N Referencia on the transaction, which remains contingent on regulatory approval.

Balazs Sepsey has been made Partner at Kinstellar in Budapest.

Akin Gump, Bogdanovic, Dolicki & Partneri, Maric & Co, Isailovic & Partners, Harrisons, Zdolsek Attorneys at Law, Boga & Associates, Popovski & Partners, and Forgo Damjanovic & Partners have advised Croatian conglomerate Fortenova Grupa d.d., on the EUR 615 million sale of its frozen food business to Nomad Foods. Norton Rose Fulbright, Lakatos, Koves & Partners, and five firms from the SEE Legal alliance advised Nomad Foods on the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

The Budapest office of Kinstellar, working together with the Goodwin law firm, has advised the Creandum fund on its EUR 10 million Series A round investment into Hungarian fraud-detection startup SEON Technologies Ltd.

Schoenherr and PRK Partners have advised B&B Hotels on the sale of properties in Hungary and the Czech Republic to Primonial REIM. Clifford Chance and Szecsenyi & Partners advised the buyers on the deal, which included a leaseback by B&B Hotels.

For our Checking In feature, we reach out to partners and heads of practice across CEE to learn how specific practice areas are faring in their jurisdictions. This time around we asked Tax experts: What are the most important changes to the Tax laws in your country since January 2020 and what has their impact been? 

On December 15, 2020 CEELM gathered legal experts from across the region for its annual Year-in-Review Round Table conversation. In a wide-ranging discussion, participants shared opinions and perspectives on their markets, on strong (and less-strong) practices across the region, and the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on both, as well as on how technology is changing the legal industry, and what the industry will look like in 2021.

“The third wave of the pandemic, and unfortunately the most severe, has dominated the developments of the past month in Hungary,” says SBGK Partner Peter Lukacsi. He says that severe restrictions have been imposed in the country to combat the uptick in the numbers of newly infected people, including the closings of lower grade schools and kindergartens. “Courts have been closed as well,” he says, “and no personal hearings have been held in both civil and commercial matters since March 8.”

For our Checking In feature, we reach out to partners and heads of practice across CEE to learn how specific practice areas are faring in their jurisdictions. This time around we asked Data Protection experts: Overall, how compliant would you say economic agents are with relevant local regulations on data protection, and what are the main gaps that have yet to be addressed?

According to a Government Decree passed on 9 February 2021, lessees do not have to pay rent for a property owned by the Hungarian State or the local municipality (or by companies which are controlled by these) for the specified five-month period (February - June 2021). The decree specifies a list of 25 types of activities which are to be alleviated from paying rent, which includes:

Jalsovszky has advised Hungarian energy and real estate developer Callis Energetika Zrt. on its sale of an 8,300-square-meters plot to Atenor Hungary. CMS advised the buyer on the deal.

Kinstellar has helped the Business Lease Group B.V. and its CEE subsidiaries obtain a EUR 242 million refinancing loan in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia from a syndicate of ABN Amro Bank N.V., ING Bank N.V., and Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A. Clifford Chance reportedly advised the lenders.

Noerr has advised oil and gas company MOL on its acquisition of the Hungarian operating company of Marche. Baker McKenzie Zurich reportedly advised the seller, Marche International.